48 VEGASGOLFER JAN./FEB 2006 BY BRIAN HURLBURT PHOTOGRAPHY STEVE SPATAFORE

Transcription

1 48 VEGASGOLFER JAN./FEB 2006 BY BRIAN HURLBURT PHOTOGRAPHY STEVE SPATAFORE

2 Members of the UNLV men s golf team aspire to greatness. They are led on that journey by head coach Dwaine Knight, assistant coach Andy Bischel, physical therapy professor Keith Kleven and mental training consultant Dr. Mark Guadagnoli. Together this fantastic foursome has evolved the Rebels into the nation s most sophisticated college golf program. It was another perfect fall day in Vegas, when 100 or so members of the Rebel Golf Foundation gathered for the annual Rebel Golf Day at Southern Highlands Golf Club, the final collaboration of the gifted and illustrious design duo of Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Sr. The course is the vision of owners Garry Goett and Guy Inzalaco and is marvelously sculpted into the desert. The prestigious country club serves as the home of the UNLV Rebel men s golf team. UNLV Head Coach Dwaine Knight, in his 20th year, was in event mode, playing equal parts host, salesman, organizer and trouble shooter, with a full-time emphasis on man in control and man of inspiration. Roaming around the practice range and putting green were Vegas movers and shakers and the men and women behind the success of the program. Tom Hartley, one of the key figures who helped lure Knight to UNLV in the fall of 1987 and the key figure who convinced him to stay in Rebel Red a few years ago when the University of Texas came calling shared a moment with Charlie Baron, who later that day was recognized as the 2006 Rebel Golf Foundation Honored Member. Baron and Hartley are key figures in the Las Vegas Founders Golf Foundation, the volunteer group that initially set UNLV golf off on its successful path. Hartley knew what Baron was feeling because he was honored in 1998, sandwiched between Alan Duncan and Ernie Becker, Jr., and a few years after Christina Hixson, Steve Wynn, Ted Quirk and Charles Mathewson, and a few years before Cliff Findlay, Goett and Brian Greenspun. All are names of people who in some way helped shape the amazing city of Vegas, and all are major contributors to UNLV golf. They played a huge role in UNLV becoming one of the best if not the best college programs in the country. And they represent the other few hundred people who annually give their time and money in support of the Rebels. And the several course owners and pros who let the Rebels practice and play on their courses. UNLV golf is all about the foundation. The physical foundation was formed in 1986 for the specific purpose of bringing big-time college golf to a growing golf destination. But the word foundation oozes from each of the four major components of Rebel golf. The team s golf swings start with solid fundamentals and foundations Knight instills with the help of players existing swing coaches; their academic success begins from a solid foundation built by valuable assistant coach Andy Bischel; their physical well-being is created from a ground-breaking foundation implemented by respected clinical educator and researcher Keith Kleven; and their mental outlook is improved through the foundation set by Dr. Mark Guadagnoli, an accomplished mental training consultant. Knight sets the program s bar at a high level by staying true to his beliefs and building from the foundation that he has created in his two decades at the helm of Rebel golf. He inspires all of those around him to be the best that they can be. I was blessed to have tremendous parents who taught me that if you do something, then you better do your best until you get it right, says Knight. I have also been fortunate throughout my life to have had great people spend time with me and teach me life lessons that you could never buy. Many people took the time and believed in me, and helped me create this program. Knight has created his foundation based on the pursuit of excellence. The goal is to provide the players a program that allows them to compete at the highest level in all phases, and to get an education and win a national championship. What Knight has created is the most unique program in college golf, and one that continually maintains a high level of excellence. The story that Bischel and Knight tell recruits is very compelling and allows UNLV to have success in the recruitment of the best golfers in the world. In life, there is accidental excellence and there is systematic excellence, says Guadagnoli. But there are no accidents when it comes to the excellence of Rebel golf. Dwaine Knight THE GOLF COMPONENT Dwaine Knight is relaxing in his office on a weekday morning when a writer comes in for a scheduled interview. Knight is surrounded by hundreds of photos, trophies and other keepsakes that commemorate an illustrious coaching career. There is so much memorabilia that the paint on the walls is barely noticeable. Knight is the man behind the success of Rebel golf and inspires his players, supporters and staff to aspire to greatness on and off the course. His clear and passionate mission resonates throughout the program. It s clear to an outsider that every decision made by anyone associated with Rebel golf will be made with the best end result in mind. No short-sighted, quick decisions will be tolerated, and thoughtful, well-executed plans will be embraced and celebrated. Before Knight began his college coaching career at the University of New Mexico (his alma mater), he was a rabbit on the PGA Tour from He had varying levels of success, but soon grew weary of the travel and stress of Tour life. In 1978, he settled into what would become one of the greatest coaching careers in the history of college athletics. During his time on Tour, Knight met people who influenced his thoughts and beliefs, and many of his coaching philosophies began percolating. He took over for Dick McGuire in 1978 at New Mexico, and led the school to eight NCAA final appearances before accepting the coaching position at UNLV in the fall of Since then, the Rebels have won a national championship (in 1998), made 16 appearances in the NCAA finals, and have won four NCAA regional championships, six conference championships and 45 tournaments. Two individuals (Warren Schutte in 1991 and Ryan Moore in 2004) captured national championships, and 19 players have achieved All-America status 36 times. Knight also won nine different coachof-the-year awards and was inducted into the UNLV Sports Hall of Fame, the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame 50 VEGASGOLFER JAN/FEB 2007 JAN/FEB 2007 VEGASGOLFER 51

3 Andy Bischel and the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame. Due mainly to Knight s efforts, UNLV is known in golf circles as a bridge to professional golf. Players who come to UNLV will quickly learn whether they have what it takes to play professionally. More than 20 of Knight s former players have gone on to play professional golf, including Ryder Cup members Chad Campbell and Chris Riley, and Adam Scott, one of the world s best players. The golf program at UNLV played a big part in my golf education, and helped me prepare for life on tour, Scott has been quoted as saying. There are great facilities to use and great competition to play. I look back on my time at UNLV and have great memories. Knight s golf genius and short-game brilliance is also widely recognized. Nearly every former player credits him for improving their short game, and golfers clamor for the chance to be tutored by Knight. This publication once ran a cover story that revealed his putting secrets, and it proved to be one of our more popular instruction articles. Coach Knight is an incredible short game instructor and he has a vast knowledge of the game of golf, says Moore, who won the United States Amateur while at UNLV. One of the things he constantly emphasized was the importance of the finishing holes in every tournament. I can t even begin to count how many times his words rang true, with the finishing holes making the difference between winning and losing. Even players who don t go to UNLV seek Knight s wisdom. Most recently, Boyd Summerhayes has been working with Knight. I believe in the knowledge and understanding he has of the short game, Summerhayes, a standout college player at Oklahoma State who now plays professional golf, was quoted as saying. His ability to communicate along with the fundamentals that he has taught me have definitely made me a more confident and aggressive player around the greens. The common theme among those who talk about Knight is that he keeps things simple and he communicates well. Those same attributes allow his Rebel players to understand exactly what is expected of them and how to play to the best of their abilities. Those who listen the best and work the hardest usually end up living their dream of playing professional golf. THE ACADEMIC COMPONENT It s sunrise o clock on a cool Vegas morning, when UNLV assistant golf coach Andy Bischel and a few of the Rebel golfers show up to run laps as penance for minor Rebel golf protocol breaches. All of the players are there a few minutes early, minus one, but at the strike of 5:30, Bischel and the linksters hit the bricks. Shortly thereafter, the late party of one arrives, pleading his case that he was on time according to his watch. Without hesitation, Bischel tells the golfer to go home. The incident sparks a few weeks of resentment from the player, but ultimately he realizes that it was his responsibility to be on time no matter what, and it was his lack of preparation on the morning in question that led to the negative chain of events. For Bischel, it is more evidence that the tough love he and UNLV Head Coach Dwaine Knight sometimes dish out has a positive impact, even if it takes awhile to see the results. My goal is to always push the players and never let them settle, he says. I am hard on them and I keep pushing them forward. I have learned there are no days off, and being consistent is a key. Bischel is Knight s right-hand man, and his job description if he had one would take up more words than this article. Bischel oversees all financial and NCAA compliance records, is the team s academic adviser, recruiting and travel coordinator, and the director of the Rebel Golf Foundation, among other miscellaneous duties that include leading the team through portions of their morning workouts and supporting the efforts of Dr. Mark Guadagnoli, the team s mental training consultant. I am the one that bleeds through to all areas, he says. I have specific duties, but I think everyone respects my opinion on a lot of different matters. Knight has fine-tuned the assistant position over the years and always looked to the major college sports for inspiration. The football and basketball teams have assigned academic advisers, while non-revenue sports like golf are left to share advisers with other teams. Knight didn t think that was good enough and aspired to have his assistant fill the adviser role. Having Andy so involved from an academic standpoint has been a huge part of our graduation success, says Knight. And Andy has become so accomplished that other teams in the athletic department come to him for advice in certain situations. Currently, the Rebel team is riding a streak of four years in a row with a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher, and three players are in the honors program. Our goal and Coach Knight s measurement is that a 3.0 GPA is expected of the players, no matter what, Bischel says. Coach Knight is very specific with the players. They will be measured by two things at UNLV: GPA and scoring average. Bischel s involvement with the players helps him understand what makes them tick, how to best motivate them and how to guide them through their stay at UNLV. Deciding what major to declare is a tough decision for anyone, but Rebel golfers have someone who is there to help, unlike many in the general student population. One of the first things I ask a player when he gets here is what, besides golf, would they want to do irregardless of the dollar, says Bischel, a former co-captain of the UNLV swim team. They usually have no clue, but by asking the question early on they are at least thinking about it, and it helps them make a decision about a major when the time comes. Bischel s job is to integrate new players into the program, while pushing veterans to the highest level in all 52 VEGASGOLFER JAN/FEB 2007 JAN/FEB 2007 VEGASGOLFER 53

4 phases. This job is about trying to get these guys to mature more rapidly than they would on their own, he says. Even if that means dishing out a little tough love every now and again. THE PHYSICAL COMPONENT Several hundred Southern Nevada sports fans and supporters were crammed into UNLV s Cox Pavilion 18 months ago for the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and it seemed like every one of them had a personal story about Keith Kleven. That s an exaggeration, but there may be no more influential person in Southern Nevada s sports history than Kleven, a licensed physical therapist. It was only fitting he was inducted into the hall, joining many of the athletes he had helped over the years. His clients have included Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Greg Maddux, Jason Giambi and nearly every Rebel golfer over the last 17 years. Every once in awhile you come across a difference maker, and Keith is that person, says UNLV Head Coach Dwaine Knight. He is a great friend and is very professional. He truly has healing hands. We are very fortunate to have him associated with Rebel golf. The partnership was created in 1989, when Kleven asked Knight if he could do some team research to lessen or eliminate injuries by implementing a strength and conditioning program. Knight quickly gave Kleven control of the team s conditioning regimen, and his program has become one of the key components of Rebel golf. Rebel golfers are required to attend team training sessions at six in the morning, three days a week. The program has evolved over the years, but these days the players are put through 30 minutes of core strength training, 30 minutes of short arcs, and 30 minutes of cardio work. Dwaine and I are continually discussing ways to push and improve the process, says Kleven, who believes golfers respond the best to exercise that utilizes the hands. I am here to assist the team in any way I can, and we keep altering things so that they will get the most benefit. It s my responsibility to be here for the players whenever they need me. One of his first chances to help a golfer was when PGA Tour player Mark O Meara came to him many years ago after knee surgery. The two became friends, and Kleven even caddied for O Meara at Augusta in 1992, helping O Meara to a top-five finish. Thank God I didn t know enough to be nervous, he says about the experience. The relationship with O Meara also helped establish a most telling relationship with the world s current No. 1 golfer. Tiger Woods was introduced to Kleven when Knight was recruiting Woods to play for UNLV. Tiger made a last-second decision to attend Stanford, but Kleven left a lasting impression on Woods. He called Kleven after turning pro, and the two have worked together ever since. In overall balance and structure, he probably exceeds all world-class athletes I work with, says Kleven. We have done a lot of things that I haven t done with others. He is very gifted. Kleven s motto is winners never finish, and much like his world-class athletes, he is always working to become better and find new ways to elevate his teachings. Golf is a game you never arrive at, he says philosophically. But these days, many Rebel golfers are that much closer to their final destination. THE MENTAL COMPONENT Dr. Mark Guadagnoli, Rebel golf s mental training consultant, thinks golfers should shake off the good and bad shots. You just hit a great shot? Shake it off. You hit the ball out-ofbounds? Shake it off. According to Dr. Mark, as he is affectionately called by those involved in Rebel golf, the key to playing the game is being focused on the shot you are playing, no matter what happened previously. Being too excited about greatness and too disappointed about bad play can lead to poor execution on future shots. This theory crystallized during the summer of 2004, when Guadagnoli caddied for former Rebel and current PGA Tour player Ryan Moore during his streak of amateur greatness. Moore won the U.S. Amateur, the NCAA championship individual title, the Western Amateur and several other big time events. That amazing run put Moore s name in the company of Tiger Woods and Bobby Jones, two other greats of the game who enjoyed historic amateur golf careers. Moore and Guadagnoli developed a simple signal that the two shared after great or poor shots. Moore would look at Dr. Mark and slightly shake his hand after hitting a shot. The motion helped snap Moore back to the present and refocused him on the shot at hand. It worked to perfection more times than not. Guadagnoli, a professor in UNLV s Department of Kinesiology, and Rebel Head Coach Dwaine Knight first worked together in 1999 when Guadagnoli was introduced to the coach by former UNLV athletic director Brad Rothermel. Knight initially wanted trend data produced for the Rebels workout program, but two years later he brought in Guadagnoli, who holds a doctorate degree in cognitive psychology with an emphasis on motor behavior, to work with the players on a regular basis. Guadagnoli took over for Jay Brunza, Tiger s mental coach, who worked with the Rebels in the mid- to late-1990s. Knight wanted someone who could spend a lot of time with his players and build on the philosophies he developed as a PGA Tour player. During his playing days, he met a guy named Arthur Allen, who worked with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton and several prominent lawyers. He told me, I can t give you talent, but I can allow that talent to come through more effectively, says Knight about the guy who initially introduced him to the Keith Kleven 54 VEGASGOLFER JAN/FEB 2007 JAN/FEB 2007 VEGASGOLFER 55

5 mental side of the game. He also showed me a stack of business cards that were given to him by attorneys who used his relaxation techniques to help them pass the bar exam. Guadagnoli is an accomplished author and expert in several fields. He is president of Triad Consulting, Inc., a company that provides logical solutions to performance needs. Guadagnoli and his colleagues are continually working with a wide range of clients in the pursuit of excellence. He has completed research for The First Tee, a national youth golf initiative, spoke at multiple conferences, is a visiting scholar at Harvard and Rice Universities, and works individually with college and pro golfers on every tour. His new book, Practice to Learn, Play to Win, is scheduled to be released in the spring of It details how cognitive neuro science can enhance the learning of golf, a new theory he has been exploring. The really big thing is there has been an evolution in what we do, and Coach Knight is always inspiring those around him, says Guadagnoli. What that has made me want to do is reach out and find new and better ways of doing things. Not only does that help make the team better, but it makes me better in everything I do. Dr. Mark s philosophy is Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, which translated means of sound body and a sound mind. The saying reflects the belief that the brain and body are not mutually exclusive entities. Success with one is significantly enhanced by success with the other. The philosophy seeps into all of his discussions, and when the players hear his thoughts, they begin to open up and trust him. In essence, he is the life coach for Rebel golf. Not only does he help lower scores, but he is there to have conversations about anything players want to discuss. Dr. Mark offers an effective tool for our young men to use to ask the right questions and get feedback as to what paths they should follow as they go on this journey, says Knight. Dr. Mark Guadagnoli 56 VEGASGOLFER JAN/FEB 2007